But here I am in 2016, not only writing about it but also becoming more and more convinced that order and creativity are not arch enemies in my creative practice!
I love the spontaneous flow. I love how it allows me to explore ideas, colours and patterns without judgment. I love the innovation and discovery which happen in the process. But most of all, I love how the end result always takes my breath away. I used to live for that high whenever I created, whether it be on canvas, writing, or organizing art shows.
But then I began to see the limitations. And the more I saw and accepted those limitations, the more I continue to appreciate and embrace order.
1. I am finite
For one, spontaneity is very exhausting. And like any high it cannot be sustained over time. I know a lot of people love to go from one high to another in the creative journey, and in their personal lives, but I suspect that lifestyle comes at a serious cost - burn out and lack or loss of deep relationships.One of the things that I keep coming back to is the realization, acknowledgment and acceptance of my own mortality, and with it my limitations. I am a creative being contained within a physical body, which is getting older, and with age, more tired. Acknowledging one's limitations is not a negative thing; for me, it is something that helps me to relax, take a deep a breath, and know that making mistakes, and having limitations is okay.
Humility opens the door to peace and grace.
And to maintain peace and grace, towards oneself and others, you have to bring in . . . wait for the dreaded word creatives . . . schedules! Oh how I hated that word! But lo and behold with the New Year, I realized that I wanted to go longer and stronger than faster. To do that I needed to accept that my creative energy cannot be taken for granted; it had to be honoured as with my body. A work schedule, that allows for times of rest and recuperation was the way to go.
2. Know Thyself
While you can cover a lot of ground with spontaneous overflow, flitting across various genres and ideas with grand strokes of creativity, while you can be a fast-paced, versatile and a veritable jack-of-all-trades (a significant trademark of the Millennial mindset), there is a caution with speed - you tend to miss out on deep engagement.Rather than covering a wide range of creative pursuits, the last one and a half years of art practice has taught me that I need to concentrate on three main areas of creativity for now. I talk about them here - TYPES OF ARTWORK I PRODUCE.
The Greek proverb "Know Thyself" is a powerful revelation. To know the things I am good at and having the grace to keep producing those things is a breakthrough in my life. It allows me to better brand myself and present myself to a specific audience, rather than aiming blindly and in the words of another parable "throwing my pearls at pigs."
To survive online, targeting is absolutely important. The word target has these connotations: purposeful; focused; aim; precise, etc . . . When you know what kind of artist you are, you are ready to take your work to another level. Streamlining is a really efficient way of ordering your creative flow.
3. The Long-Haul
Here's another insight I gained in the last one and half years of creating. The Millennial fairy tale spun by a highly networked society that success stories happen overnight is, according to Bel Pesce, a TED fellow from MIT, one of the ways in which you kill your dream.At the beginning of this year I had to make a huge decision: was I going to accept that this artist thing didn't work out, cut my loses, and get out while the hit was not too severe on my heart, or was I going to rethink my strategy, accept that I've gained more skill than money in the past year or so, and try again?
With the help of the Spirit, I decided to do the latter. And with that decision came new insight. If I wanted to build something that would last, that would organically grow into something bigger than making a sustainable source of revenue in the short-term, I had to re-assess my goals, and the way in which I was going about accomplishing them.
One of the first things I needed to do was getting long range vision. That meant planning for the long-haul. And to plan for the long-haul, you have to harness your creative energy and not expend it on sporadic or 'when you feel like it" creative sessions. Of course, I will never stop creating out of spontaneous overflow, but I will limit myself to certain days and times in which to let go, because my creative energy is my biggest resource along with this human body that sustains is.
I am excited about the new things I am adopting this year to pursue my dreams. This give me hope and confidence. This tells me that I have graduated from the merely dreaming stage to the building stage.And from hereon, with the grace of the Spirit, peace of being okay with my limitations, the wisdom of order, and the perseverance of hard work, I know nothing is impossible!
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